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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
earth and planetary sciences
Does a ballast effect occur in the surface ocean?
Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 37, No. 8, Article L08602, Year 2010
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Description
The oceanic biological carbon pump (BCP), a large (10 GT C yr-1) component of the global carbon cycle, is dominated by the sinking (export) of particulate organic carbon (POC) from surface waters. In the deep ocean, strong correlations between downward fluxes of biominerals and POC (the so-called 'ballast effect') suggest a potential causal relationship, the nature of which remains uncertain. We show that similar correlations occur in the upper ocean with high rates of export only occurring when biominerals are also exported. Exported particles are generally biomineral rich relative to the upper ocean standing stock, due either to: (1) exported material being formed from the aggregation of a biomineral rich subset of upper ocean particles; or (2) the unfractionated aggregation of the upper ocean particulate pool with respiration then selectively removing POC relative to biominerals until particles are dense enough to sink. Copyright © 2010 by the American Geophysical Union.
Authors & Co-Authors
Sanders, Richard J.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Morris, Paul J.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
United States, Woods Hole
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Poulton, Alex J.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Stinchcombe, Mark C.
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Charalampopoulou, Anastasia
United Kingdom, Southampton
University of Southampton
Lucas, Michael I.
South Africa, Cape Town
University of Cape Town
Thomalla, Sandy J.
South Africa, Cape Town
University of Cape Town
Statistics
Citations: 48
Authors: 7
Affiliations: 3
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1029/2010GL042574
ISSN:
00948276
e-ISSN:
19448007
Research Areas
Environmental